England’s slim hopes of a gold or silver medal in the Champions Challenge in Baku were finally dashed this morning when they met China in the last of their round-robin matches. They faced a team who now go to the top of the table, ahead of Korea on goal difference. Although England had some territorial advantage in the opening exchanges, China looked dangerous on the break and eleven minutes into the match were awarded a penalty corner which was dispatched by Ren Yi at full stretch. England barely had a chance to recover before they were facing a second penalty corner and for a second time they were picking the goal out of the back of the net after Ma Yi Bo flicked the ball into the bottom corner of the England goal. England could have gone three down minutes later had not been for a diving tackle by Crista Cullen in her own circle. England then had an encouraging spell, which was brought to an end when Fu Bao Rong scored from a loose ball after a good save by Duggan. Just before half time China increased their lead to four after Ma Yi Bo scored her second from a penalty corner. In the second half China appeared to be comfortable with conserving their energy for tomorrow’s final against Korea, but continued to threaten the England goal. England gained a small consolation with ten minutes of play left, when Alex Danson (pictured) deflected a Crista Cullen flick into the Chinese net. Final score 4-1 to China.
Tomorrow England meet the USA, who they drew against on Tuesday, to decide the bronze medal. Both England and the USA were uncatchable by the fifth and sixth placed sides at the start of play this morning and were assured the bronze medal play-off place but the USA have moved above England in the table by virtue of their 2-1 win over Azerbaijan. The New Zealanders have failed to impress in this tournament and lost their final match 1-3 to the Koreans.
So the final tomorrow is between the Korea and China. The two sides met in the round-robin stage on Thursday, with China winning 2-0.
